Southampton 2 - 2 Arsenal: Dropped points, should have been worse

Great work Jay!

Lex wrote:Ramsey is out for 4-6 weeks. Forget about him for a while

   

Whoever thought that the Arteta - Flamini midfield would be a good option?
Seriously what did Wenger think? Too much imbalance in that midfield.

That first half was........uhm...... .........I don't know really what to say about it.
Second half we played well for the first 7 minutes then dropped off again.
Unacceptable.

Sina wrote:

luck pls come back on our side fgs

ffs. We never get it.

Özil turned it on a bit in the second half. I'm often his first critic, though he really tried hardest in the second half. Credit where it's due.

Anyone know what Giroud doing here?  
Poor Santi. 

The sight of Flamini and Arteta in midfield is just too depressing   

EL Patron wrote:The sight of Flamini and Arteta in midfield is just too depressing   

No

Ozil failed to perform that midfield role. He was why we lost. He is better off on wings more advance role. Cazorla rosicky could have worked in the centre to link mid with def and attack. Aeteta was also not 100%.

Wenger's fault we lost bcox his tactics were wrong.

Özil was brilliant, have to say that. Tracking back, a few slide tackles, his assist. His best performance so far imo. Most dedicated.

[quote="MJGunner"]Özil was brilliant, have to say that. Tracking back, a few slide tackles, his assist. His best performance so far imo. Most dedicated.[u/quote]

Yes but where was he defensively and why did he not regularly fall back to link attack defense. Bcoz of him arsenal did not retain possession in Southampton's half.

...I just said he tracked back and made tackles. Yes he was defensively aware, more so than in any other game.

The reason we couldn't retain possession in their half was because of how deeply Arteta and Flamini sit, we lose the ball and then we invite them into our half because we don't have Jack, Rambo or Rozza to hound them for the ball. We have two deep-sitting mids.

Ozil defensively was poor. Stood while they ran past him.

Some of the responses remind me of the comments from that day after THAT Aston Villa loss. Smarten up boys!!

I am certain we are not the only club thats been hit with injuries. And besides, we still have enough quality within the team to stay in arms reach of man city. Just remember, our tough fixtures are followed by much easier ones. IIRC we have the easiest fixtures that leads upto the end of the season no?

BTW Miroslov Klose would be ideal to solve our striking issues. Wonder if he is available   

boyzis wrote:Ozil defensively was poor. Stood while they ran past him.

Wrong. Watch the game again. He constantly tracked back and made a few slide tackles.

Özil was very good. Arteta - Flamini midfield was the failure.

El Gunner wrote:Özil was very good. Arteta - Flamini midfield was the failure.

I know Wenger did not have a choice but if we can notice that, I am sure Wenger can also and hope he does not repeat it again.

Ozil really surprised me. That moment when he picked up the ball in our own half, ran through the entire Southampton team, actually kicked the ball forward and sprinted after it and almost lobbed Boruc was insane

Yeah, that moment stood out to me too. Wenger's words about how people expect Özil to change the game alone have been stuck in my head for a week. When I saw him do that, I knew he said it just to take pressure off of him, not to insinuate that he can't change the game on his own.

Didn't have a chance to visit forums until tonight. Extremely belated response to this game, but, yeah, it wasn't great bar a few minutes in the second half. Southampton won only 2 of last 12 PL games now too. And were missing key players Missed opportunity.

Still, this weekend could be wonderful if we win and Man City draw with Chelsea. We'll see..